The Darkest Sparks
by Lopithecus
Summary: Bruce had thought he had always been so careful, so attentive and cautious. He thought his tests had been accurate and done without any error. He had thought he had figured it out and that there shouldn't be anything to worry about. But he was wrong, and now his life is a mess with a baby on the way that wasn't planned and Clark going off the rails. [Part 1 of Sparks Series]
**The Darkest Sparks**

 **A/N: I know in the episode it says two years past since the time Superman kills Lex, but I took some liberties with the timeline in order for this to work the way I wanted it to.**

 **The whole dinner date thing that Clark has with Lois in the episode is replaced with a dinner date with Bruce that doesn't end as bad as the one with Lois. ;)**

 **This is my first A/B/O story but not my first mpreg story.**

 **I didn't mean for this to be this long. It kind of just… happened.**

Bruce had thought he had always been _so_ careful, so attentive and cautious. He thought his tests had been accurate and done without any error. He had thought he had figured it out and that there shouldn't be anything to worry about. But he was wrong, so wrong, and now, looking back on it, he wishes he had done more tests, done more lab work. But he had thought he had done enough and had found the answer.

…

"Are you sure this is okay?" Clark asks Bruce as his cock presses against him, bare of any condom.

"Yes," Bruce sighs, feeling the need in him building. "Yes, please just… damn it, I did all the tests." Bruce wiggles against him, his body feeling hot. His heat has hit him early this month, unexpected, and he knows it's an inconvenience for not only himself but his mate too. "My… Just put your dick in me, damn it Clark. Don't make me explain again, I…"

Clark kisses him to shut him up and the kiss is searing hot, almost burning, but Bruce loves it and he can't get enough. "I need to hear you say it one more time just to be sure."

Bruce groans. "The test showed that since you aren't human and you didn't have an alpha, beta, or omega caste system on Krypton, you are neither an alpha, beta, or omega." He squirms again, trying to get Clark's cock to rub him in the right spot. "This means that you are basically infertile here." When Bruce opens his eyes, there's a frown on Clark's face. "What?"

"Just, that means I'll never be able to have children." Clark begins to thrust his hips again, his length rubbing between Bruce's ass cheeks. "I don't know, I thought I would have some in the future."

Bruce really can't think straight so he wishes Clark would just stop talking. "With me?" he asks, incredulous. "Clark I have kids."

"Adopted kids," Clark murmurs but then realizes what he said. "I… I didn't mean it like that. I love Dick and Tim, I really do, as if they _are_ my own but I just… I thought…" Clark sighs and his hips stop. Bruce growls in annoyance but Clark still doesn't move. "I just wanted a child that would actually be _mine_ from the beginning." He sighs again. "What I mean is, I don't care if the child is biological or not, we can adopt a child if you wanted. I would be fine with that but with Dick and Tim, they're _your_ children not mine no matter what I feel about them." Seeming to remember exactly what they are doing, Clark starts to move again. "I want a child that you and I can call our own, together, whether it be biological or not."

"Well I don't know if I want that Clark," he says and he really can't be bothered to sugar coat anything right now.

Bruce doesn't miss the pained look that crosses Clark's face before the man ducks his head to hide in the crook of Bruce's shoulder. "Okay Bruce, I understand."

Bruce tries to ignore the guilt in his chest in favor of the feeling of Clark's hips rutting against him but even in his heat he finds it hard to do. He sighs. "Let me think about it."

Clark lifts his head and looks at Bruce with hopeful eyes. "Really?" Bruce rolls his eyes and nods his head. A wide grin spreads across Clark's face and Clark kisses him. "Thank you, Bruce."

"Yeah, yeah." Bruce wraps his legs around Clark's waist. "The whole point of telling you _again_ was so you would enter me without a condom, remember? Now would you just do it already?"

Clark chuckles and with one fell swoop, enters Bruce's awaiting entrance. Bruce sighs as Clark moans and soon Clark has started a fast pace, holding onto Bruce's hips as he pushes in and pulls out then repeats. The pressure keeps building within Bruce and as soon as Clark wraps a hand around his cock, without even having to move that hand, Bruce is coming onto his own chest and some drips down onto Clark's hand. Feeling Bruce's inner walls contract with his orgasm causes Clark to follow, filling Bruce up nicely.

Bruce's heat lasts for four days and by the end he is exhausted, sticky, and feels disgusting. They continued to not bother with any condoms and though it feels weird to have cum dripping out of him, he doesn't mind all too much. Plus, Clark is a good mate despite not actually being an alpha. He makes sure to take care of Bruce after every time they go at it, wiping Bruce's body with a cool washcloth that he finds in the bathroom off to Bruce's room. Bruce is also glad for Kryptonian biology as Clark has an amazing stamina and is always ready to continue having sex with him no matter how short of a time passes since the last time he had cum.

Now that his heat is done, he curls around Clark's body, nuzzling his neck with his nose. He always feels super domestic after his heats which is annoying but Clark never seems to mind. Tomorrow he'll be back to normal, back to his gruff, hard, easily annoyed and angered self who doesn't like to show any emotions whatsoever. Clark's arms pull him close into an embrace and Bruce almost feels like _purring_.

He lies there and listens to Clark's steadily beating heart and allows it to lull him to sleep. Before he finally drifts off into dreamland, one last fleeting thought passes through his mind. Maybe a child with Clark wouldn't be so bad. Maybe he can start looking into different adoption agencies, ones that don't discriminate against infertile alphas — because if you're an infertile omega then you're fine because your alpha can still give you a child that's at least biologically his or hers by using a surrogate, but if you're an infertile alpha then all hell breaks loose because you're broken and useless. Bruce doesn't agree with this at all and wouldn't want to get in bed with an agency that does — and see what he can find. Maybe this is just the domestic bliss talking.

...

It was two months later when Clark approached him with the news of what he heard when trying to listen to Bruce's heartbeat; that he had heard another one accompanying his. Bruce didn't believe him at first, told him it was impossible, but Clark had insisted. So he had Clark go out and buy him a pregnancy test. He came back with ten boxes.

"To be extra certain," Clark says as Bruce eyes the bag filled with pregnancy tests.

"But ten?" Bruce looks up at his mate. "I think that's a bit excessive, especially since you claim to be able to hear the heartbeat already."

"Hey," Clark steps up to him and reaches into the bag to pull a box out. "You're the one that wanted to take the test instead of just believing me. I don't know why you think I would play such a trick as this." He opens the box and pulls out the pregnancy test. "Now, go pee on this stick." He hands it over.

Grumbling and with an eye roll, Bruce takes the pregnancy test and the bag into the bathroom. He does as the box instructs and waits. So maybe he had missed his heat last month but that was because of stress. Luthor's presidency is putting a strain on the Justice League and especially Clark, so Bruce has been working extra hard to not only calm the League and his mate, but to find any and all information on Lex and his presidency. He's had many sleepless nights because of his obsession over it and there's been more than one instance in which Clark has had to come down to the cave to either drag him forcefully away from the computer and to bed, or literally carry an exhausted Batman who is practically dead to the world to their bedroom for much needed sleep. Bruce had told Clark his missed heat was because of stress as well.

The fifteen minutes that he has to wait feels like hours and he actually jumps when there is a knock on the bathroom door. "Bruce, may I come in?"

"Yeah," he calls.

The door opens and in walks Clark. He's taken his glasses off now and unbuttoned his shirt to reveal his Superman suit. "Is it ready?"

Bruce looks at his watch. "Should be." He goes to pick up the test but then hesitates.

"Do you want me to look at it first?" Clark asks.

Bruce gives him a pointed glare and picks up the test, irritant. " _You_ already know the results technically."

"But, again, you don't believe me." Clark walks up behind him and peers over Bruce's shoulder to look at the test that Bruce hasn't even glanced at yet. "Hmm, just as I thought."

Gulping, Bruce finally looks down and reads the word _yes_ on the tiny digital screen. He feels his breath leave him and he doesn't have to look to see Clark's smug smile because he _can feel it_. "Wipe that damn smile off your face," he growls or at least he tries to sound like that. Instead he sounds strained.

His heart is really pounding in his chest and he can't breathe. Clark rubs his arms. "Are you okay?"

Bruce drops the test into the trashcan and picks up another box, opening it. "Get out." He turns and starts to push Clark out of the bathroom. "Get out right now."

"But Bruce-" Bruce slams the door in his face, belatedly thinking Clark can just x-ray through the door. "It's okay Bruce, this isn't bad news." Clark's voice is muffled through the door. Bruce rips open the box and takes out the pregnancy test. "Bruce, please."

"And you, of all people, want to raise a child in a world in which _Luthor_ is president?" Silence greets him as he takes the second pregnancy test, not having allowed himself to finish his business when he took the first one for this exact reason.

Many minutes pass before a quiet voice comes from the other side of the door. "I want a family with you Bruce, whether Luthor is president or not. We, you and I, can protect this baby from him."

"Not the laws," Bruce says, eyes trained on where he had set the test down.

"We don't follow the laws," Clark says lowly. "You especially." Bruce doesn't comment on this, knows Clark is looking at him through the door. "Please let me in Bruce." Bruce doesn't move and he can actually hear Clark sigh. "At the very least let's not talk about this through a door." Bruce still doesn't move, continuing to stare at the test that is sitting on the counter. "Please."

Bruce allows another five minutes to pass before he sighs and opens the door slowly. He backs up to where he was standing earlier, waiting for the results of the test. Clark approaches him cautiously and when he reaches him, he pulls Bruce into a tight hug. Bruce relaxes into the hold, wrapping his arms around his waist, and resting his cheek on Clark's shoulder, facing away from his neck. "I'm just…" He sighs again. "I'm scared… about the pregnancy and the baby I mean."

Clark pulls away and smiles at him. "Me too." Clark then reaches over and picks up the pregnancy test that is still sitting on the counter. He smiles at it, holds it up so Bruce can see the word _yes_ , and then throws it away in the trash next to the other one.

...

It's a week after they find out about Bruce's pregnancy when Wally dies. Clark is furious about it and Bruce tries to calm him down but nothing works. Clark ends up flying to the fortress and staying there for two weeks, only showing up for Wally's and then The Flash's funeral. Bruce tries to talk to him during those times but Clark pushes him away and heads back to the fortress for another week. When Clark finally shows back up at the manor, Bruce pulls him into a desperate hug and frantically places Clark's hand onto his stomach. He hasn't started to show yet because of how much muscle he has but he hopes the effect is the same for Clark.

Clark visibly softens. "I'm sorry for leaving for so long."

Bruce tightens his arm around Clark's shoulders. The hormones from the baby are starting to make him soft or at least that's his excuse. "I understand, you needed time."

Clark pushes away from him and Bruce misses his hand on his stomach. "Lex can't be allowed to get away with this."

"We can't do anything Clark, he's the president," Bruce insists. "I've been trying to find evidence against him but so far nothing's come up."

"But we know!" Clark snaps. "We know he killed Wally!"

"I know," Bruce sooths, one hand finding its place on his stomach where Clark's once was. "I know but that doesn't do us any good. I think the best thing we can do right now is just bide our time. Wait until Luthor does something so bad that even presidency can't get him out of it."

"Like what? Wait for him to set me up by having it look like I attacked him and killed Metallo because he made it look like Metallo was protecting him even though he was attacking me?" Clark walks to their bed and sits down. "Next thing you know I'll be wanted by the government and Captain Atom and Powergirl, along with a few others, will be after me. _Then_ he can be impeached right? I don't think so Bruce."

Bruce sighs and sits down next to him. "Don't be so dramatic."

Clark smiles wryly at him. "You're right, that is a bit dramatic. Obviously there would need to be a huge Kryptonite meteoroid heading to Earth for any of that to happen."

Bruce snorts a laugh and leans against Clark's side. "We'll figure something out, I promise."

Clark looks down at him and reaches over to touch Bruce's stomach. "I know we will."

...

Bruce is in the middle of his third month of the pregnancy when they infiltrate the White House. Luthor has put the world on the brink of war and Clark has finally had enough. It's him, Clark, and Diana who go in while Shayera, John, and J'onn hold off the security from the entrance of the building. Clark is the closest to Luthor with Diana close on his heels. Bruce is farther back, an order from Clark as he doesn't want the baby to be in too much danger. Bruce tries arguing with him, wanting to stay close to him so he doesn't do something stupid, but he also knows it's a losing battle. When Clark checks in with them, Bruce tells him that he's coming and he can hear Diana tell him to wait for her as she is almost there. Bruce knows Clark won't wait, that he is too furious to listen to reason.

Bruce's heart is beating way too fast even for fighting, the nerves in his stomach making him nauseous. His stomach lurches and he almost doubles over to throw up on a guy that he just took out. He gasps for air, feeling sweat dripping down his body in long streams. He fights through the feeling of queasiness and continues to make his way to Clark. He catches up to Diana at some point and in fighting beside her, he gets knocked down. His first thought is the baby but he stamps down on the panic that rises in his chest and punches the guy off. Diana helps him up.

He thanks her but just as suddenly his stomach flips over again as a smell hits his nose. "Do you smell something?"

The two of them run to where Superman and Lex should be only there's just Superman standing in the room and Lex is… Lex is on the ground, burn marks all over him and blood pooling around him. The smell of blood and burnt flesh hits him like a tidal wave and he turns towards the wall, doubling over with a hand on the wall for support, and throwing up his lunch. He barely registers Diana asking Clark if he is okay and Clark's response as he tries to hold up his shaking body with only one hand. He throws up again and then there is a hand on his shoulder. When he turns to face whoever it is, it isn't Clark but Diana. She's the one who helps him out of the White House.

He goes straight to the cave once everything is done and quickly changes out of his Bat-suit, the material irritating his skin. He's still feeling nauseous and calls up to Alfred to start a bath, hoping that will help lessen it. He's heading toward the stairs in the cave to head up to the Manor when Clark arrives. He turns to his mate and they lock eyes, staring. Bruce finally breaks the silence. "It had to be done right?"

"Of course, it did." Clark approaches him and lays a hand on his abdomen. Bruce is finally starting to show a bump, small as it is. "For the safety of the world." He kisses Bruce. "For us." Clark then leans down and kisses his stomach. "For the baby." He straightens and looks Bruce in the eyes. "You understand that don't you?"

Bruce hesitates and sees the anger flicker in Clark's eyes at it. "I…" He swallows, takes a deep breath, and really _thinks_ about it. Yes, it does make sense as to why Luthor had to be taken out, of course, it does. It also makes sense as to why the Joker should be taken out as well but you don't see him _killing him_. But this is the matter of the whole _world_ not just Gotham. He opens his eyes, not even realizing he had shut them. "I do, Clark. I understand." It leaves a bitter taste in Bruce's mouth.

Clark smiles at him satisfyingly. "Good." He kisses Bruce's cheek. "Now, let's get you up to the bath I just heard Alfred turn the water off to." He picks him up and flies him upstairs.

...

It doesn't take long after Clark killed Lex for the League to start establishing world domination type leadership. Bruce is just coming home from his fourth month check up at the hospital when Alfred tells him that Clark is waiting for him down in the cave. He makes his way slowly, hand resting protectively on his stomach. Ever since Luthor's death Clark has been acting differently, angrier and scarier. He's never been hurt by Clark, not yet at least, but somehow he can feel it building. It's no secret that Bruce doesn't like what the League is doing. The only reason why he goes along with it is to try and keep Clark in line, to try and keep his mate somewhat the man he fell in love with. Of course, maybe all that is just wishful thinking on Bruce's part.

Bruce gingerly takes the steps down to the cave and sees Clark floating there. As he approaches, Clark lands. "How come you didn't take me with you to your appointment?" Bruce can detect the irritation in his voice. It must be one of Clark's bad days.

"You were busy," he says, going over and kissing his mate hello.

Clark pulls him into a hug. "I like coming with you."

"Next time I'll tell you then." Bruce pulls back and smiles at him.

Clark smiles back. "I love you Bruce."

"I love you too Clark." He exits Clark's embrace and looks him up and down. "You know; I'm still not used to the new look."

"You have a new look too." Clark motions to the Bat-suit that is in its glass case. "We all do." Silence descends upon them and it stays that way for a few seconds before Clark starts to talk again. "I want you to stop being Batman now."

Bruce turns to him, startled. "What?"

"You're four months pregnant Bruce," Clark says, as if that answer is the answer to everything.

Bruce crosses his arms, feeling his annoyance rising. "And I can still fit in the suit. It's not like I'm showing all that much." It's true. Though his baby bump is larger than it was in his third month, it's still not anywhere near as large as most four-month pregnancy bumps are. If anything, his breasts are growing faster than the bump. "And yes, with my muscle tone it's perfectly fine," he adds, already seeing the worry forming on Clark's face. "As long as I can fit in that suit and show that I'm not pregnant then I will continue to be Batman."

"You're endangering our child!" Clark says angrily.

Bruce's anger flares, always has when Clark's does. "How am I putting our child in danger when there's no crime to fight! It's not like my rogues gallery is out destroying Gotham anymore since you _lobotomized_ all of them, remember?"

Clark glares. "I did that to protect you and our child."

"I don't need your damn protection," Bruce snaps. Silence fills the cave once again as the two of them glare at each other. After a few minutes, Bruce gets tired and relents. He takes a step up to Clark cautiously. The man is still glaring but Bruce is feeling angry and annoyed enough to bring up what he's been wanting to bring up ever since Clark started his reign of terror. "Clark listen to me." He grabs his mate's hand and holds onto it. "Please stop this. This isn't who we are. Who _you_ are."

"The world is a better and safer place like this." Bruce almost expects Clark to rip his hand out of Bruce's grasp but he doesn't. "We should have done this a long time ago."

"No Clark," Bruce says. "Don't you see? What you're doing is wrong. It's not you."

Clark's eyes narrow. "It is now and I thought you were with me."

"I am," he rushes to say. He places Clark's hand on his stomach right where the bump is. It's always worked to placate Clark in the past and he has no reason to believe it won't now. "You have to see that this is wrong. Lex was one thing but… but what you're doing, what _we_ are doing? People are terrified of us."

Clark laughs, loud and humorless. "That's rich coming from you." This time he does yank his hand away from Bruce. "Your whole work is fear."

"It's not the same and you know it." Bruce looks at Clark, looks at the anger there and wonders what happened to the man he fell in love with. "I don't go around killing people and frying their brain."

Bruce knows he has said too much when he sees Clark's eyes start to glow red with his anger. "How dare you! How many times have you come to killing that fucking clown? He has killed hundreds of people and has come close to killing you too. He even killed one of your _children_. And what about Bane? He broke your back and yet you still let him run around hurting people. This world is better without them; without Lex, The Joker, Bane, Poison Ivy, all of them." Clark has stepped up close to him, gotten in his face. Bruce hates to admit it, but Clark is scary like this. "You were just too much of fucking coward to do anything reasonable about them."

"Coward!" Bruce shouts, trying to shove Clark away but obviously failing. "Killing them would have turned me into just as much of a monster as they were."

"So you think I'm a monster now?" Clark growls.

"You're coming damn near close to it." Bruce doesn't expect it, didn't think Clark would actually lay a hand on him in anger, so he's surprised when he's flung backwards and lands on his stomach from Clark shoving him. Or maybe he punched him, he's not really sure because all his brain is registering is how much it had hurt and how much his stomach is now hurting. He gasps, clutching at his stomach and groaning in pain.

"Oh my gosh." There's a rush of air and then Clark is kneeling beside him, gentle hands turning him over. "I'm sorry." He sounds panicky and Bruce can hear him gasping for breath, as if he's having a panic attack. "I didn't mean…" When Bruce opens his eyes and peers at Clark, he sees tears falling down his mate's face. "I didn't mean… oh my gosh Bruce… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He looks shocked and guilty, sad and panicked, almost scared, all at the same time. "I don't know… what's happening." He can feel Clark's hands on him shaking.

"The baby," it's all he says, all he can say right now. He has to make sure the baby is alright even as the pain begins to lessen.

Clark takes a stuttering breath in and wipes at his eyes. It doesn't do much good though as more tears keep falling. Bruce watches Clark concentrate and x-ray his stomach and then with a sigh of relief, Clark turns back to him. "The baby looks fine." Bruce sits up carefully then and wraps his arms around Clark, pulling him into a hug. Bruce pets his hair as Clark buries his face into Bruce's shoulder and sobs. "I… I don't know what's happening to me Bruce. I'm just so angry… all the time."

"Shh," Bruce sooths, staring off into space behind Clark. He works on keeping his heart steady even as he feels the fear building up inside him. "It's going to be okay Clark. We'll work on it. All you have to do is learn to manage it, like I do." Bruce pulls away and cups Clark's face in order to look him straight in the eyes. "I'll help you." He uses his thumbs to start to wipe Clark's tears away.

"I don't know what I would have done if I had seriously hurt you or the baby." Clark looks panicky again and his breath hitches.

"You didn't, that's the most important part." Clark starts to shake his head but Bruce kisses him in order to stop him. He doesn't care if people will think he's crazy for staying with Clark after what he just did. Bruce can't leave him. He loves him too much; no matter what Clark does. When he pulls away, Clark looks less like he's going to have another panic attack and instead more tired and depressed. "I love you."

Clark hugs him again. "I love you too."

...

Bruce is a few days into his fifth month and his breasts are huge and they ache and he wishes they wouldn't be so damn big. He can barely fit into his Bat-suit now but stubbornly he squeezes into it despite Clark's angry and annoyed protests. He's also been able to feel the baby moving for the first time. It's a weird feeling, almost like flutters when your nervous except it happens when you're not nervous. Clark has asked him if he can feel the movement but Bruce tells him no, that the pregnancy isn't yet at that stage. So instead Clark opts to watching the baby move with his x-ray vision. Bruce kind of envies him.

He's also asked Clark to not tell him the sex of the baby as he wants it to be a surprise and Clark is pretty good at using gender neutral words when they discuss it. They've already started to brainstorm name ideas and they both agree on Martha if the baby is a girl since it would be honoring both their mothers. Bruce suggests the middle name of Lara as well if the baby is a girl and Clark beams at him along with the baby moving as if in agreement. So far they haven't settled on a boy name yet.

"What about Thomas in honor of your father?" Clark suggests over dinner.

Bruce shrugs. "Then Jonathan is on the table as well."

"Thomas Jonathan Kent-Wayne or Jonathan Thomas Kent-Wayne?" Clark chuckles at Bruce's grimace. "Yeah I didn't think so either."

"I supposed the first one wasn't that bad," he mutters as he takes a sip of his gazpacho soup. When he looks up there is amusement in Clark's eyes.

"So your father's name first and then mine?" He chuckles. "I guess I should just be glad I didn't suggest Thomas Jor Kent-Wayne." He laughs as Bruce grimaces again. "Can you imagine our child going around with _that_ middle name?"

Bruce smiles as he watches Clark laugh. He hasn't seen his mate laugh like that in at least two months. "The poor kid would never want to tell anyone his middle name."

Clark is laughing so hard that he starts to snort and then his face turns red in embarrassment. Bruce is amazed that that still embarrasses Clark even though Bruce has heard it many times in the past. "Our kid would hate us," he says between breaths.

Bruce wonders how weird this must be for Clark, picking out baby names for both genders when he already knows what the baby is going to be. He decides to not ask though, enjoying the mood of their dinner, something he hasn't been able to do for a long time. The baby moves and he places a hand on his stomach, smiling fondly at Clark. This is the man he fell in love with. "Maybe we shouldn't go with any of those names."

Clark wipes at his eyes where tears formed from him laughing so hard. "You're probably right." They continue their meal with laughs and jokes and for once, Bruce is happy again.

...

Two weeks later, Bruce calls the Justice Lords over to the Bat-cave. He has made an interesting discovery and shows them, playing the alternate reality on the screen. He's sitting in his chair with his breasts and baby bump squeezed into the Bat-suit, everyone standing around him as they watch. Clark is next to him with his arms crossed. Bruce can't read the expression he has on his face and it unnerves him. The baby moves.

John asks what it is that they are watching and Bruce explains it to them. They're shocked and amazed and Bruce points out that the alternate universe's Flash is still alive. He expects Clark's next statement of pointing out that their Lex Luthor is also still alive. He tries not to show any reaction to Clark pointing that out. Bruce can predict where this is going and he doesn't want it to, doesn't want this to happen all over again. He and Clark have a baby to raise so this _can't_ happen again.

When John and Shayera point out how sad it is that they can't help them, Bruce plays his part and shows them the portal he built. He's not even sure why he built it. Maybe it was just because he was bored or one of his many plans but if he digs deep down he can pull up another reason. Another reason that he doesn't really want to think about for too long; that maybe he built it for future use just in case he ever had to leave this dimension because… because of Clark.

They all approach it and Clark teases him by calling him a busy little bat. His stomach flutters and he can't tell if it's the baby moving or his natural response to Clark's playfulness. Either way they start to discuss going to the other dimension and Bruce warns them about the other universe's Justice League might not wanting their help. Clark turns away and walks back to the computer to watch the screen. He watches the scene unfold before his eyes and when Bruce turns around and joins him, he comes just at the time as a huge pipe falls on their Flash's back.

Their Superman, in the old coloring of the suit, comes and gets the pipe off of him and lectures him about not taking his eyes off of Luthor. Bruce can feel Clark growing angry beside him, the emotion flooding off of him in waves. Clark's eyes are narrowed and it puts Bruce on edge. As soon as Lex tells their Wonder Woman that he'll be out in days, Clark turns from the screen, fuming.

Clark addresses the whole group when he talks. "We won't give them a choice."

...

They come up with a simple plan and have J'onn travel to the other universe to get them to come to theirs by telling them that the two universes are collapsing in on each other. From there, they trap them. Only it doesn't go exactly to plan and their Hawkgirl uses her mace to try and break through the box Bruce uses to capture them in. John ends up knocking her out with his ring but he does it a bit more forcefully than needed and she ends up needing medical treatment.

Once they've got the Justice League in containment, the Justice Lords prepare to leave to go to the other universe. "No, you're staying here!"

Bruce crosses his arms and glares at Clark. "I should go. I'm the strategist of this team and-"

"And the pregnant one," Clark snaps.

"I wish you would stop bringing that up. Being pregnant has nothing to do with going with you," Bruce growls.

"It has everything to do with it." The Lords are watching them while trying to look like they aren't watching. Bruce doesn't know why, they should be used to his and Clark's fights by now. "You could be endangering the child."

Bruce throws his hands up in the air angrily. "It's always the same damn thing with you."

"Would you rather our child die?" Bruce's eyes grow wide.

He shakes his head. "No, of course, not."

Clark shoves him hard on the chest, forcefully making him sit in his chair. The shove hurts and he wouldn't be surprised if he has bruises later. The Lords don't even bat an eye at Clark hurting him and instead stand there, still trying to make it seem like they aren't listening when they are. "Then stay here," he doesn't say it kindly and more like barks it in a tone that means Bruce better listen. "Keep an on them." He points to the screen where there are cameras showing their current prisoners. He then leans in close and whispers in his ear so the rest of the team can't hear. "I don't want to come back and find out you've done something stupid, Bruce. I'll be _very_ angry if I do, you understand?"

Bruce nods and, satisfied, Clark stands up and walks back to the Lords. Bruce watches them leave and for a split second he wishes they wouldn't return. He reprimands himself for letting that fleeting thought pass through his head. How dare he betray Clark with those kinds of thoughts, his mate, his love? No, he wants Clark to come back, back to him, so they can raise their daughter or son and finally be happy. Yes, this child will make them happy again, fix them.

...

Bruce stays awake in the cave all night, watching the monitors that are showing the Justice League and feeling his baby move inside him. The baby was very active last night and he briefly wishes Clark was there with him so he could watch the baby move. That line of thought makes him wonder how Clark and the rest of the Lords are doing and he knows he could just turn the monitor on and watch them but somehow feels like he would be extremely disappointed at what he sees.

In the morning, Bruce heads to the building they are keeping the prisoners. He heads down to the cages and checks on them. He finds himself stopped in front of Superman who is still out cold, just staring at him and feeling his heart ache. The baby moves again and he places a hand on his stomach. "I know baby; I miss him too." Bruce continues on then when the feeling in his chest intensifies to something uncomfortable. He doesn't want to feel it.

Bruce comes to his alternate self and stands in front of the prison door in order to check his vitals. They're all stable and he has to stop himself from reaching to his stomach. He doesn't know if it would be wise to allow this Justice League to know about his predicament. If anything it would maybe serve him an advantage if they were to escape because then they might not be too hard on him from fear of hurting the baby but then again… then again maybe not letting them know is the better choice because he doesn't know what kind of reaction they would have to such news. He's already figured out that in their universe there are no such things as alpha, beta, and omegas so finding that out and finding out that men can get pregnant might be just I bit too much of a shock.

He's startled out of his reverie when his alternate self speaks. "Just one question," Bruce looks up at his alternate self, at the familiar old costume that he used to know. "Why?"

He doesn't even hesitate to answer as it is the answer Clark told him to say. "Because you and your friends couldn't do what needed to be done." Once again he stops himself from reaching for his stomach. He hopes the bump and his breasts aren't too noticeable in the suit. He begins to move on then, not being able to stand looking at an older version of himself, back when he was _happy_ , or at least as happy as he could get in this line of work. "There are mercury switches at your hands and feet. Any motion and I'll know about it."

"You've thought of everything," Batman says.

Bruce looks at him for a second and wishes that that had been true, that he had thought of everything months ago before all this happened. "No, just everything you'll ever think of."

Bruce walks away then and stops in front of Flash. It's a sight he thought he would never see again. The bright red, the yellow lightning bolt… if he had thought of everything then Wally wouldn't be dead. The stinging in his chest returns. That day had broken something within the Lords and caused them to head spiraling down a cliff to their own doom.

"What are you looking at, huh?" The Flash yells at him and Bruce tries to not show emotions. It's gotten harder and harder to do so as the pregnancy has progressed.

Bruce steels himself and makes his voice perfectly neutral. "Calm down." He has a sneaky suspicion that him saying that is more for himself than for Flash but he doesn't have time to do introspections. "You'll appreciate this someday."

"Yeah? I don't think Hawkgirl is going to appreciate it too much." The Flash is angry and Bruce wishes that of all the encounters they could have, this wasn't one of them. It's been so long since the Lords have had Wally that he doesn't want him angry with them.

Still he has to reply with something and preferably something to placate the speedster. "That was an accident. She's in our best hospital now." More like Clark forced him to send her to Arkham where all his lobotomized criminals currently are. He's not even sure what they are doing to her there and he doesn't really want to know.

"I don't want to hear it." Flash turns his face around and Bruce feels the sting in his chest again. The baby moves, causing his stomach to flutter. His hand clenches and unclenches in order to stop himself from reacting to it.

"Believe me," he starts. "The last thing we want is to lose another-" and he can't finish that statement as suddenly the emotions in him flare. He can feel himself starting to shake and really hopes Flash can't see.

"Another what?" Bruce doesn't answer and instead blinks his eyes under the white lenses. He can feel moisture building up in his eyes and he feels overwhelmed and trapped. He wants to leave and so he does, hurriedly, back to the safety of the monitors. There he takes his cowl off briefly to wipe at his eyes. Damn hormones. They keep messing with him and Bruce feels like he can no longer control his emotions.

It's several minutes later before he calms himself enough to start working again. He pulls his cowl back up, rubs his stomach soothingly as he feels little flutters, and types into the computer. Another few minutes past before Bruce hears an erratic beeping and he turns to look at The Flash's monitor. He's struggling and then suddenly he goes limp, the heart monitor going flat.

Bruce's heart jumps into his throat and the tears are back. He runs out of the room, making his way to Flash's cell, jumping down the stairs despite feeling unbalanced by the pregnancy. He hasn't had the same balance as he normally does ever since the baby bump has started getting larger. Bruce feels dizzy all of sudden as he nears Flash's cell. Quickly typing in the code and entering as soon as the door slides open, he begins to release Flash from the restraints. He's calling Flash's name and he can hear his voice is hoarse with the effort to not cry. He's sure the other Batman can hear.

"Flash." He's shaking as he struggles with the restraints and a wave of nausea overcomes him. "Damn it not now." Bruce's breath hitches in his lungs and the tears escape down his cheeks. "Baby not now."

He somehow manages to free one of Flash's hands in his panic but as soon as he does, the Flash punches him so fast that he didn't even see it. Bruce falls back and to the floor, barely feeling when Flash picks him up and puts him in the restraints. Before he passes out, Bruce thinks about how angry Clark is going to be. A chilling fear runs through him at the thought.

...

He's woken up from a strong kick to his stomach. At first he thinks it's one of the Justice League members but when he opens his eyes none of them are around. It finally dawns on Bruce that the kick was in fact the baby and that was the first time he's ever felt the baby kick. Move sure but kick? Never. At least he can be reassured that the baby is okay.

As he designed these restraints, he gets out of them fairly quickly. Bruce doesn't need to go to each cell to see that all the members of the Justice League are gone. Clark is going to be so mad at him for allowing this to happen. That is if Bruce can't fix it before Clark returns. He knows where the League is going and that's to go get Hawkgirl but if his other self is anything like him, then he wouldn't go with them and instead look for the portal. The Bat-cave it is then. He would rather take on Batman first than the whole of the Justice League, especially when pregnant.

Bruce arrives at the Bat-cave around the same time as Batman so he assumes he hasn't been out that long. Just as Batman is about to touch the portal, Bruce throws a Bata-rang at him and it catches on his cape, stopping him. He then punches him, knocking Batman back. Bruce is a bit slower than usual, the pregnancy slowing him down. He doesn't want to do too much hand to hand combat, not at the risk of the baby, but he needs to restrain Batman somehow.

He jumps to try and get on top of Batman but Batman kicks him off. It doesn't hurt and if Bruce didn't know any better, he would say Batman kicked him off as gently as possible and avoided his baby bump on purpose. Bruce has no doubt now that Batman heard him or saw the bump, something, in order for him to be careful with Bruce. After all, if Batman is him then he's not a stupid man and could probably figure it out easily, disbelief of male pregnancies or not.

Batman charges at him and uses hand to hand combat to try and subdue him. He doesn't kick anywhere on him and keeps his hands above Bruce's stomach. Bruce manages to knock him away and Batman falls off a cliff side. He is definitely avoiding Bruce's baby bump and going easy on him.

Bruce looks over the edge where Batman had landed on a rock platform. "I knew you would come. Just like I know you're going to-" Batman pulls out the grappling hook and fires it, allowing Bruce to dodge it easily. "Do that." Batman flies by him and up into the shadows of the cave. "What are you hiding for?" He goes to search for him, ignoring the kick the baby gives to his lungs.

"I do my best work in the dark," Batman responds and Bruce tries to pinpoint his location. His hand goes to his stomach subconsciously, something he's caught himself doing more than once when he's trying to concentrate.

When he realizes what he is doing, he drops his hand. "I use to think that too but whatever have you accomplished in there besides scaring a few punks half to death and putting a few more in jail?"

"It all adds up." Bruce wishes that were true but in reality it doesn't all add up. Not when the criminals he puts behind bars keep escaping. Not when the Penguin and Two-Face and the Joker can continue to escape Arkham and wreak havoc on Gotham by killing hundreds of people. Obviously this Batman doesn't understand that yet. He's still delusional to that belief. Bruce just doesn't know if the way Clark is going about it is any better.

"Not fast enough," Bruce says because he _wants_ to believe that what Clark is doing is for the greater good. Because he _wants_ to have faith in his mate, the person he loves more than anything in this world. "If you really want to make a difference, if you want to change the system instead of just patching it, you can't be subtle. You have to step into the sunlight, take over, like we did," he says, these being the exact same words Bruce kept telling himself over and over again to convince him that what they are doing is okay even though deep down he knows they're not. "Think about it. A world with no crime, no victims, no pain."

"And no choice." Bruce flinches slightly at Batman saying that, flashing to his and Clark's relationship. Bruce can't make many choices anymore either.

Bruce finally finds him and lunges towards him but he miscalculates the adjustment he needs to make to counter the baby's weight and misses, allowing Batman to use a Bata-rang to cut his arm. "Who elected you anyways?"

"Who elected you?" Bruce shoots back, his anger and annoyance rising. He wants to end this as soon as possible and the baby won't stop moving, as if the baby doesn't like the fighting. "The problem with democracy is it doesn't keep you very safe." Bruce struggles to keep his voice steady with so many emotions bombarding him. He used to be so much better at controlling them but now he can't.

"It has other virtues." Batman is hiding from him again and Bruce once again goes searching for him.

"Stop moving around baby," he whispers, placing a hand on his stomach. He feels a kick and sighs, knowing the baby isn't going to be cooperating with him today.

"But you have seemed to have forgotten them," Batman says.

"I didn't forget," he snaps. "I just chose peace and security instead." He chose security with Clark and peace for the baby because he can't have his baby living in a dangerous world. Not in a world where two of his other children are in danger all the time and one of them has already _died_. He can't lose this baby and he _needs_ Clark.

"You grabbed power!" Batman yells, and he sounds angrier than he has throughout this whole exchange.

Bruce has had enough and decides to say the one thing he knows that will stop this. "And with that power, we made a world where no eight-year-old boy will ever lose his parents because of some punk with a gun."

He hears the Bata-rang clang and he turns around, ready to throw his own, but then sees it falling down the side of the cliff. He looks up and there is Batman, standing in full view and looking at him. "You win." They head to the Bat-computer where they can talk and where Bruce can hopefully figure out how to restrain him without him escaping. "Do you really not see what you're doing here?" Batman asks him as they approach the computer. Bruce doesn't say anything and Batman takes the silence as permission to continue. "Is the baby his?" Bruce looks up at him from where he was eyeing the computer's keyboard. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. The thing that is hard to figure out is how."

Bruce looks away and to the floor. "If you're talking about Superman, then yes, it's his." He turns back to Batman. "In our universe we have something called alpha, beta, and omega castes. It's kind of like what pack animals have, like wolves, except for humans. Any man or woman can be an alpha, beta, or omega and any alpha can get any omega pregnant during their heat no matter the gender of each party."

"And so you're a bitch," Batman says.

"No!" Bruce snaps back at him and his hand finds its way to his stomach without him even thinking. "You're born into being an alpha, beta, or omega. You have no choice. If I did I certainly wouldn't have chosen to be an omega."

Batman stays silent as he thinks. "And Clark is-"

"Nothing," Bruce interrupts. "On Krypton in our universe, as I suspect is the same for yours, they didn't have these castes. So Clark isn't anything." Bruce hangs his head, looks at the small bump that his suit shows. Without the suit on it would be much bigger. "We… _I_ … thought Clark was infertile because of that. I did all the tests and research and thought it wasn't possible for him to conceive."

"So you had unprotected sex and got pregnant," Batman states and Bruce just nods his head in affirmation. "Even if the baby wasn't planned, is this really the world you want it to grow up in?"

"In what? A safe world?" Bruce looks back up to him but doesn't remove his hand from his stomach. "Isn't that the most ideal?" Before Batman can say anything to that, an alarm goes off on the computer. Bruce goes over and presses a button to allow the screen to show what is going on. "Your friends are tearing up Arkham."

When he looks over at Batman, he's already heading towards the car. "Then shouldn't we stop them?"

"Clark told me…" he stops mid-sentence, Batman's eyes on him curiously. "Yeah, let's go." He walks past him and to the passenger side. Suddenly he's feeling exhausted. "You can drive." He hops in and leans back, waiting as Batman gets into the driver's seat. Batman eyes him and if Bruce was anyone else, he would have missed the concern on his face. Bruce places a hand on his stomach again, feeling comforted by the fluttering and occasional kick there.

Batman drives out of the cave and they're halfway to Arkham when Batman starts to talk. "I can't believe this is Gotham. Where's the litter?"

"If you want people to respect the big laws, you have to enforce the small ones." After he answers, Batman surprises him by stopping at a red light. "What are you doing?"

"The small laws remember?" Batman says and Bruce doesn't have anything to say to that. They're distracted by a commotion going on outside. Someone is complaining about the bill to their food and soon the cops come to arrest the man. Bruce feels sick. "They'd love it here don't you think?"

Bruce looks at him. "Who?"

"Mom and Dad." Batman's eyes narrow and Bruce finally knows how that feels. "They'd be so proud of you."

Bruce looks away and ahead, leaning his head on the side window. "Just drive."

When they arrive to Arkham, they see that the army has come as well. They both get out and Batman addresses him. "You might want to take care of this yourself as you'll be able to convince them better than I can." Bruce doesn't say anything and watches what is taking place in front of him. "Are you up to it?"

Bruce takes his hand away from his stomach. "Yeah." He grapples up to the roof and then swings down between the army and the Justice League. "Hold it! These are my prisoners and I'm taking them back." He hasn't been out as Batman for a little while, not ever since his baby bump has been showing through the suit. He hopes the Lieutenant can't see it and wonders what is going on.

"You're in the right costume," the Lieutenant says. "But how do I know you're not one of them?"

Bruce tries to look as scary as possible and gets up in his face. "Are you questioning my authority Lieutenant?" The Lieutenant and Bruce have a stare off until he finally relents and tells his men to put the guns down. Bruce turns around and goes to the Justice League, telling them to follow him and that they will be going out through the back.

Superman comes up and walks beside him. "You fooled them. Even I thought you were him." Bruce has to stop himself at reacting to that. If it was his Clark, he would have been able to tell it was him just by his scent even though he has sprayed himself with alpha sent.

"I am him," he tells him simply and it causes Superman to stop in his tracks. Bruce doesn't react to this either and instead leads them out back where their Batman is waiting. He turns to them. "We'll meet you back at the Bat-cave." He then walks to the car. "You still driving?" Batman gets into the driver's seat and Bruce doesn't miss the reassuring look he gives to Superman. Bruce looks away from it, hurt forming in his chest. He misses those days in which he and Clark would do the same.

...

Back in the cave, Bruce helps Green Lantern hook Hawkgirl onto a heart monitor machine. They want some answers before they get back and Bruce just wants to get out of this damn suit. It's putting too much pressure on the baby for too long and his breasts are aching from the pressure as well. "I need to change."

As he starts to leave towards the bathroom that is down in the cave, Flash zooms in front of him. "Hold it, I think we deserve an explanation first."

"Flash let him go." The Flash, along with everyone else, looks over to Batman in surprise. Bruce is feeling sick and sweaty and he can't breathe and would Flash just get out of his damn way? He pushes past Flash and practically runs into the bathroom, leaning down above the toilet, and throwing up. Someone pulls his cowl back and uses a wash cloth to wipe the sweat away from his forehead. "Do you need help getting out of the suit?" When Bruce straightens, a wave of dizziness overcomes him and he stumbles, Batman catching him by the arm. "How far along are you?"

He gets sat down on the toilet after Batman flushes it and lowers the lid. Batman then kneels and starts to help him get out of the boots. His feet are terribly swollen. "Five months." Bruce notices the door to the bathroom is shut, keeping the rest of the League out. He wonders if Superman is watching them with his x-ray vision. Probably. "Almost six at nineteen weeks."

"The nausea should have gone away by now then." Batman gets his boots off and then starts to work on the armor on his legs and torso.

"It's not very often. Just when I get worked up or over emotional." He stands when directed and Batman takes Bruce's pants off and then his shirt he wears under the armor. His bump is very noticeable now but from the looks of it, Batman doesn't react to it at all. Bruce isn't sure if he just really doesn't care all that much or if it's for common curtesy. He suspects the latter as that is what he would do himself.

Batman sits him back down onto the toilet, not even giving the deep black and blues on his body that Clark caused, especially the one on his chest, a second glance. "Do you have clothes in here?"

He points to a small linen closet. "Sweat pants and a t-shirt."

Once he's in the pants and shirt, Batman places the cowl back on him. "I can't have you going out there without this on. Besides Clark, they don't know who I am." Bruce only nods in understanding and allows Batman to help him up. He feels weak and tired. When they come out of the bathroom, Bruce notices everyone's eyes go straight to his stomach and they look at it in surprise. The only one who doesn't is Superman and that confirms Bruce's suspicions that the man was watching them through the door. Batman sits him down in the chair and studies him. "Have you had anything to eat today? Drink?" He shakes his head in the negative, allowing his head to fall back on the chair in exhaustion. All he wants to do is sleep but he doesn't suppose these guys will let him. "Have you slept at all?" Batman asks as if reading his mind.

"No, I haven't eaten, drank, or slept." There's a frown on Batman's face and Bruce can tell his eyebrows are furrowed.

"Superman." Batman turns to Superman who stands up straighter. "Can you go upstairs and have Al - something made for him?"

He looks suspicious but surely Superman has x-rayed him as well and seen the baby? "Sure." He then speeds up stairs where he'll run into Alfred.

Bruce tries to get up but Batman holds him down. He tries not to think about how Clark would do the same thing to him often when Clark didn't want him to do something. Except normally Clark would do it forcefully and hurt him but Batman is being gentle, something people wouldn't really expect from Batman unless you really knew him. "He shouldn't be up there alone." He knows Batman understands what he is implying. That Alfred won't know it's a different Superman and the beta will be scared even if he doesn't show it. Bruce tries to keep Clark away from Alfred as much as possible ever since this whole thing began but it gets harder and harder to do.

Batman nods in understanding. "He'll be fine." He's talking about Alfred but makes it sound like he's talking about Superman. It doesn't lessen his worries though and as they wait for Superman's return, he bites his bottom lip and rubs his stomach.

Soon, Superman is back in the cave and carrying a plate with a salad on it along with a vitamin shake and water. The salad consists of cabbage, carrots, and fresh tomatoes; all things that are healthy to eat for someone who is five months pregnant. He hands it over to Batman who sets it down next to the keyboard. "I'm not really that hungry."

Batman eyes him and Superman is by his side now too, looking concerned. The rest of the League watches in unconcealed confusion and curiosity. "You need to eat." He hands him the vitamin shake. "Drink this." Bruce takes it begrudgingly and takes a sip.

Bruce grimaces. "This is _definitely_ not what I'm craving." He takes another sip, knowing that Batman is right and that he needs to eat. The last thing he wants is to compromise the baby. His stomach does a flip. "This is disgusting."

"Hey, are we going to sit here and watch the guy who attacked us eat, or are we going to get an explanation?" Green Lantern finally says, walking up to where Bruce, Batman, and Superman are. The rest of the League follows him. "I don't know why the hell you two are being so nice to him all of a sudden, especially you Batman, but Hawkgirl is seriously injured and this guy is one of the people at fault."

"That was an accident," he tells him.

Batman takes the shake back, ignoring Green Lantern, and then picks up the salad. He hands it to Bruce and Bruce glares at him. "Eat."

Rolling his eyes, Bruce takes the salad. "If I throw up it's going to be on your boots."

"Eat," Batman says simply in return.

Reluctantly, Bruce takes a bite and wills his stomach to stop lurching. Just as he is swallowing, the baby kicks his lung causing him to gasp with the pain. It was a strong kick and a thought that hasn't occurred to him yet passes through his head. Can half Kryptonian babies punch through a womb?

He starts to cough, practically choking on the food. Batman quickly hands him the water and Bruce takes a few huge gulps. Superman is rubbing his back. When the coughing fit is done, Bruce surprisingly feels embarrassed and irritated at the same time.

"Are you alright?" Superman asks him gently. His hand is still rubbing Bruce's back.

Bruce gets up, not being able to stand that familiar yet not familiar hand on him. He sets the salad aside and walks a few paces away, not facing the League. "I'm fine." He says it harsher than he had intended but there's no way of taking it back now.

"I think Green Lantern is right," Wonder Woman says. "I think you need to explain some things."

Bruce sighs and looks down at his enlarged breasts and baby bump. The baby has been very active today, surely not liking all the emotions Bruce is feeling. "The Flash died," Bruce starts with. He turns and faces the League, one hand on his stomach. He's been doing that a lot today it seems but feeling the bump comforts him. "Luthor killed him. Cla-Superman was furious and… and went to the fortress for a few weeks after that. About a month later Luthor put the world on the brink of war. We're talking World War Three level. Superman had had enough, we all did. Luthor had been president for a while at that point and so we infiltrated the White House. Superman was ahead of me and Wonder Woman. He wanted me to stay back because…" He rubs his stomach. "He didn't want me endangering the baby."

Everyone in the League except for Batman and Superman gasp and Wally actually says, "What? Baby?"

Bruce stills his hand, feels flutters, and continues talking. "I was three months pregnant then. If Superman had gotten his way, I wouldn't have even been there at all. But back then, I still had a little bit more say in what I did. Now…" He takes a deep breath. "Now it seems like I can't do anything, at least Bat related."

"Hold up," Flash cuts in, holding his hand up. "What do you mean you're pregnant?"

Bruce begins to explain the caste system again to the rest of the League as Batman is the only one who knows at this point. As he nears the end, he can see the amazement on everyone's faces. "Superman… Superman is my mate." A few eyes turn to their world's Superman and Batman, eyeing them suspiciously. The most obvious is Flash. They then turn their attention back to Bruce. "Because Krypton didn't have alpha, beta, and omega castes and so Superman didn't have one either, I thought he was infertile. During one of my heats I convinced him that it was fine to have unprotected sex and well, this happened." He motions to the bump.

"Was this before or after he went crazy?" Green Lantern asks, sounding accusatory.

"Before," Batman says, stepping in for his defense and sounding annoyed at the implication. Bruce is grateful for that.

Green Lantern crosses his arms. Bruce can tell he's still angry, probably because of Hawkgirl mostly. "Well I suppose it's good to know you didn't just bed down with a murderer and get knocked up with his baby."

Bruce hears Batman growl which surprises him. Before Batman can retort to Green Lantern's statement, Superman steps in. "Okay that's enough. Batman, why don't you continue with your story."

"There's not much else to say," he continues. "After Superman killed Luthor he seemed to change. He was angry, more out of control. I offered to help him with managing his anger but he doesn't have as many years of discipline as I do."

"So teaching him failed," Batman says.

Bruce nods. "Yes. Sometimes bringing up the baby will help calm him but most of the time it doesn't anymore. In fact, that tactic used to work a lot. Something changed though and I don't know what. He's just… different."

"Does he hit you?" Bruce is surprised by Batman's question.

"He…" His shoulders slump. Bruce doesn't want to answer that question.

When it's obvious he's not going to continue, Superman speaks up. "I noticed bruises on you." Bruce looks to the floor. "Are they from your Superman?"

He doesn't answer at first, not wanting to betray Clark but knowing he has to answer with something. "He doesn't hurt me… not often at least."

Batman's lips are in a straight, tight line as he thinks and Superman's are curved down in worry. "But he does hurt you?" Bruce nods. "Does he hurt the baby? Has he done anything to compromise the pregnancy?"

"No, not since-" He stops himself but he knows it's too late, that he'll have to finish that sentence. "Not since I was just barely four months along. He pushed be and I fell back, landing on my stomach. Or at least I think he pushed me, he might have punched me. Afterwards I didn't look too closely into it to figure out which he actually did."

"Then why did you stay with him?" Superman asks, looking incredulous.

"He said he was sorry, that he's just angry and he doesn't know how to control it," Bruce says. "That's when I offered him help on controlling his anger." Bruce wraps his arms around his midsection protectively. "He hasn't hurt the baby since."

"Just you," Green Lantern says. "Who's to say the next time he hits or shoves you it won't hurt the baby as well? You really expect the baby to not be in danger with a man who hits you? If you're anything like our Batman, then you're a lot smarter than that." He's sounding a bit less angry now and more sympathetic than anything.

Bruce avoids eye contact with all of them. "You guys don't understand."

The Flash steps up. "How do we not understand? You're with a guy who is abusing you."

"No!" Bruce snaps, looking up at the speedster. "He's not, he's…"

"Batman." Bruce turns to look at Superman. "He is. When someone is hurting you, then he is. Think of it this way. Are you afraid of him?"

The question takes Bruce off guard and he can't answer right away. Is he afraid of Clark? When he thinks about it, really thinks about it, a cold chill runs up his spine and into his chest, petrifying him. "I…"

"You're scared of what is going to happen when he gets back, aren't you?" Batman asks.

Bruce turns to him next. "He's my mate."

"Mate or no mate," Wonder Woman begins. "You can still be scared of him."

Bruce shakes his head. "I'm not scared of him. I love him."

"You can be scared of someone you love too," Superman says and when Bruce looks at him, there's so much sympathy in his eyes that it's overwhelming. Bruce looks away. "How come you never used Kryptonite on him?"

Bruce rubs his stomach. "The baby is half Kryptonian so I don't know what it will do to the baby if I come in contact with it."

Superman's frown is more prominent now and he almost looks grief stricken. "You can't stay with him."

Bruce shakes his head. "It will be fine once the baby is born."

"Do you really believe that?" Green Lantern asks, not sounding convinced at all.

"No, you don't," J'onn says. "You're telling yourself that but you don't believe it."

Bruce glares at the Martian. "Stay the hell out of my head."

J'onn takes a few steps towards him. "You shouldn't get too worked up. It's not good for the baby."

"You don't know what the hell is good for my child." He backs up from the group, looking at all of them. "This baby needs both his or her parents and I'm sick of people telling me what to do."

A sharp pain shoots through his stomach and it makes him gasp. "Please calm down," J'onn has his hand outstretched to touch him but stops short.

Another pain. "W-What's wrong?" His arms close over the bump as if he can protect the baby that way.

"You just need to calm down," J'onn informs him. "You've been worked up too much today and it is taking its toll on the pregnancy."

Bruce shuts his eyes and takes deep breaths, forcing his breathing to slow and his body to calm. His heart finally stops pounding in his chest. "Batman," Bruce looks over to Batman. "I… I don't want to work you up again but we never did finish our earlier conversation. Do you want your child to live in a world such as this? Do you really want a man who hits you to be around your child?"

"Our child," Bruce corrects. "He wouldn't hurt our child."

"He's already almost done it once." Bruce starts to say that was a while ago but Batman continues. "And being the parent of the kid hasn't stopped parents from abusing them before, why now?"

Bruce looks to his stomach. He's still not quite as big as he should be but the doctors keep telling him that it's fine. Clark has always been concerned about it though, wondering if there's something wrong with the baby. Bruce would reassure Clark much like the doctors reassured him but it never seemed to help. "He's concerned about my size." He looks back up to the group. "That's how I know he won't hurt our baby. I'm not as big as I should be and though the doctors say it's fine for how much muscle I had starting out, it still never seems to calm him. He cares about this child just as much as I do and I don't believe he would deliberately hurt him or her." He says it in a tone that tells the rest of the League to drop it but, of course, he should know better than to believe an alternate version of himself and Clark would.

"I hope you're right," Batman says. "Because if you're not, then you and your baby are in serious danger."

"I'm right," he says, final. "Don't you guys have your own world to save?" Bruce pushes through the group and to the computer. He presses a key and the portal comes to life.

"What are you going to do with your Superman and the others when we bring them back?" Superman asks.

He doesn't answer, not really knowing what to do. "You do realize you can't have them continuing to be in power." Batman steps up beside him. "If not for you and your baby, then for the world. Look at what they've done. You know it's wrong."

Bruce slumps, knows Batman is right, but doesn't want him to be. He thinks back to all the protests that have been going on, all the anti-Justice Lords signs and posters being put up, and all the murder that the Justice League has done, especially the ones Clark has done. Bruce remembers trying to convince Clark to stop what he is doing but eventually going along with it himself because at first he wanted to keep Clark in line but eventually it turned into just wanting to stay with Clark. Because if he didn't want to go along with all of it, with the things the Justice Lords have been doing, Clark would leave him, right? Clark would leave Bruce to raise their baby alone, wouldn't he? And the thought of that is the most painful thing in the world.

Bruce looks up briefly at the Justice League, at what the Justice Lords used to be. They're so much better than all the members of the Justice Lords, including him. He drops his head again and says, "We can't contain them, not when they have their powers."

"Let us handle their powers, you just get wherever they'll be held ready." Batman motions for the League to follow and they do, Green Lantern picking up Hawkgirl. They each leave through the portal one by one, Batman looking back only once.

"Bruce," Bruce looks up, startled to see Superman still there. Superman gives him a sad smile, hesitates, and then takes the cowl off, pulling him into a tight hug. "I'm sorry."

Bruce's bottom lip quivers with the urge to cry. He slowly wraps his arms around Superman, holding onto his cape for dear life. He lets the tears fall and his shoulders to shake. Bruce allows himself to hear that familiar voice, that tone he hasn't heard in _months,_ tell him he's sorry, and allows the comfort of fingers running through his hair. He doesn't even try to hold back his sobs, at the feeling of loss, as everything comes crashing back to him, finally realizing that he has lost Clark for good, that he lost him a long time ago. The weight in his chest is heavy and all too real, all too painful.

Superman lets him cry it out, Bruce's tears making his shoulder wet. He's holding onto Bruce tight yet gentle and his fingers run carefully through sweat damp hair. "Shh, it's okay." He rocks them both from side to side, trying to calm him. "I'm so sorry… shh, shh."

Eventually Bruce calms and embarrassment fills him. He feels empty and exhausted. He's the one to finally pull away and when he does, Superman cups the sides of his face and wipes the tears away with his thumbs. He smiles again, sympathetic and mournful. Bruce clears his throat. "You better get going. They're probably wondering where you are."

"Are you going to be okay?" Superman's hands are now on his shoulders.

Bruce takes a moment and then nods. "Yeah." Superman nods then too and begins to pull away. Bruce catches his hands. "Wait." Superman looks back at him curiously. "I…" He swallows and brings Superman's hands closer to him. "Can I… just for a minute… pretend?" Bruce places one of Superman's hands on his stomach. The baby moves with the contact of Superman's hand.

Superman's eyes grow soft. "Of course." He steps closer and rests his hand firmly on Bruce's stomach, never breaking eye contact with Bruce and smiling softly.

Bruce's chest clenches and so he closes his eyes and pretends. Pretends the hand that is feeling his baby is his Clark's, before everything, when they were happy together, when everything seemed right. He pretends that his mate is right there, telling him how much he loves him and everything they're going to do with their child, where the two of them are going to bring him or her. So many trips planned, dinners, bedtime stories picked out, clothes, the nursery, everything. They had planned everything.

He tries not to choke on another sob when Superman finally pulls his hand free of Bruce's. "I'm sorry Bruce, but I really should be going now."

Bruce nods, not trusting his voice at the moment. He thinks if he opens his mouth he'll start to cry again. However, just before Superman walks through the portal, he stops him again. "Can I just ask you one more quick question." Superman nods in affirmation. "Are you and your Batman-"

"No," he says, cutting Bruce off.

"But you love him?" Superman doesn't answer but he doesn't have to as the silence is answer enough. "He most likely feels the same you know." His voice cracks and he can feel the tears in his eyes again.

Superman nods once. "I'll keep that in mind. Goodbye Bruce." He then heads through the portal.

"Bye Clark," he whispers and then Bruce is left there, in his cold cave, feeling more alone than he has ever felt before.

...

An hour passes and the Justice League has still yet to return. Bruce isn't really sure what is taking so long but he hopes that they are okay, especially with a Superman that is willing to kill. If Bruce is honest, he's not really sure how they plan to subdue Clark enough to bring him back to this universe and then how the Justice Lords are going to be successfully contained. He worries about it as he calls the military as Batman and tells them to get some containment cells for the Justice Lords ready. When the General asks what he plans on doing, he tells him to just be on standby. Bruce doesn't really know what else to tell him. The General then asks about him and Bruce informs him that he won't be joining the team in containment. The General questions that but Bruce doesn't give him any answers. Bruce figures he would join the Lords in imprisonment if it weren't for the baby but since he _does_ have a baby on the way, he can't very well allow himself to go to jail.

After he calls the military, Bruce kills time by finishing his salad and shake. Alfred would be proud of him for finishing it as he hasn't been eating all that well the past few weeks. He hasn't been sleeping well either. Just as Bruce thinks about lying down on the cot down in the cave to catch up on a little sleep, the portal makes the distinctive whizzing sound that indicates someone is going through it. Bruce grabs the cowl and puts it back on and then turns to the portal, one hand protectively on his stomach.

The first person to walk through is Green Lantern, holding John firmly by the arm. Wonder Woman and The Flash are next, hauling Diana in tow. Each of the Lords has their arms zipped tied behind their backs. Next is their world's J'onn with Bruce's world's J'onn along with Batman who has a hold of Shayera, also with their hands behind their back. Lastly, Superman walks through with Clark, Clark's hands firmly behind his back and a scowl on his face. Bruce's heart skips a beat at seeing his mate and immediately speeds up. There is fluttering going on in his stomach though he can tell that it isn't from the baby this time and is instead from seeing Clark again. Clark is still as handsome as ever. If only the rest had stayed the same.

Clark eyes him from the corners of his eyes, anger shining in them. "Did you arrange everything?" Batman asks.

Bruce clears his throat and Clark's eyes narrow. He tries to ignore him. "Yes, the military will be expecting you." Batman nods. "What about their powers? The military isn't equipped to hold them with their power set."

"We took them away." Bruce tilts his head in confusion. "Our Luthor built this ray gun that can take powers away. We used that on them."

"Okay." He clears his throat again, Clark's stare so intense that Bruce thinks if he could still use his heat vision, Bruce would be fried by now. "I'll give you the coordinates to bring them to. I can't go with you."

"Why not?" Wonder Woman asks.

Bruce motions to his stomach and Clark's head tilts a little in amusement. "I can't get in the suit again and definitely can't be seen like this."

"Why not?" Clark finally speaks up and when Bruce turns to look at him, he looks menacing. "You squeezed that hot body in that suit before with your stomach that big, why not now?"

He's trying to work Bruce up, Bruce knows, and he swallows hard, ignoring him. "If I did go with you, I'm afraid that they will lock me up as well, whether I'm pregnant or not. I know I, too, deserve to be but…"

"No one is asking you to sacrifice your baby," Wonder Woman says.

"You've made up for past transgressions by turning these guys in," Batman says and Clark turns his glare onto him. Batman seems unfazed. "There's no need for your baby to suffer the consequences as well."

Leaving the conversation at that, Bruce walks over to the computer and gets the coordinates. "This is where you need to take them. Inform the General that they no longer have their powers."

Batman nods and takes the coordinates and hands them to Green Lantern in order for him to lead. As they begin to move out, Clark starts to speak again. "Just remember Bruce," Bruce looks to him as so does everyone else. Bruce quickly looks to Batman, wondering what he'll do about his name being revealed but he doesn't do anything. Bruce looks back to Clark. "That baby is also mine. That means you can't keep him away from me."

"We won't let you anywhere near that baby," Batman says, stepping in front of Bruce to shield him.

"And how are _you_ going to stop me?" Clark scoffs. "You guys are going back to your own universe."

"And you don't have any powers," Superman says, pushing him forward to try and get him to go.

Clark looks behind him and at Bruce. "When I get out Bruce," he calls back, "I'm going to kill you for this betrayal. I promise you that." They disappear then, leaving the cave behind as does everyone else. Batman stays behind with him.

The two of them stand there for a few minutes, Batman still standing protectively in front of him. Bruce wonders what Batman is thinking even though he can probably guess quite accurately. Batman finally turns around and faces him. "Are you alright?" Bruce just nods, not feeling okay at all. "You can take the cowl off now. They most likely won't be back for a while." Bruce slowly removes the cowl and places it aside. Batman watches him closely, silent and observant. He then pulls his own cowl away. "May I sit?"

Bruce motions to his chair. "Yes." Batman walks over and plops into the chair heavily, long sigh escaping from his mouth. "Are _you_ okay?"

Batman huffs. "Fine." Batman watches him again, eyeing him closely. Bruce isn't really sure what he is looking for. Bruce avoids eye contact and tries to not look as tired as he feels. Suddenly, Batman gets back up. "Come here." Bruce follows him over to the cot. "Lie down, get some rest." Not feeling the energy to argue, Bruce does what he is told and even allows Batman to help him onto the bed. Batman covers him with a blanket. "I'll wake you when the League returns." He then walks back over to the chair, sitting down with another sigh.

Bruce doesn't close his eyes at first but eventually his exhaustion comes to the point in which he can no longer force them to be open. He feels a flutter in his stomach and only hopes that is the baby getting settled to rest as well. They've both have had a very busy day. Bruce places for the hundredth time that day, his hand on his stomach, feeling comforted by it.

Clark had said him. _Him_. The baby is a boy.

...

The League comes back all too soon and Batman, true to his word, wakes him before they enter the cave. They both put their cowls back on and then before Bruce knows it, he's seeing them all off. It's not as long as a goodbye as it was last time and this time Superman doesn't stay behind longer than the others again either. Bruce pretends that doesn't hurt as much as it really does. Soon, Bruce is in his cave alone again, feeling empty. He forgot how lonely the cave could feel, having gotten used to being down here with Clark all the time. Now there's not a soul in sight except for his, the baby's, and the bats.

With a long intake of breath, Bruce drags his feet up to the manor and then to his bedroom. He gets under the covers, tries to ignore how empty the other side is, and curls up into himself as best he can with a baby bump. He turns his head, burying his face into his pillow, and takes a deep breath. The other side of the bed is cold and smells like Clark.

Abruptly, he gets up and leaves the room, walking to a different one. This one room hasn't been used in years so there shouldn't be any scents. Bruce gets into the bed there but it still feels empty and cold. He longs for Clark's arms to wrap around him and pull him up against his chest. To pepper kisses along the back of his neck and all the way down his back until he reaches the end of his spine. Bruce wishes Clark was here to whisper to him how much he loves him and the baby.

In the end Bruce can't get back to sleep and ends up getting back up. He doesn't sleep for another two days until he finally passes out in a chair from being so exhausted and ends up sleeping for twelve hours straight. Alfred looks on in concern and even calls the doctor. The doctor informs Alfred who then informs Bruce that he needs to make sure to get plenty of sleep or else it could be bad for the baby. Afterwards, Bruce makes a better effort to rest but he still ends up going days without sleep.

Having had enough after two weeks of this, Bruce finally does the only thing he can think of to get closure; he goes and visits Clark. He doesn't go as Batman for at twenty-one weeks he can no longer squeeze himself into the suit. Instead, he goes as Bruce Wayne and for that to have been viable, he had had to pull some strings. Eventually he's able to go, however, and that's how he finds himself standing in front of a cell with concrete walls except for one being glass in order to look in. The door is also glass.

Clark stares at him through it. "They don't have any visitor rooms or… maybe they think you're too dangerous… I don't know," he tells his past mate. Clark says nothing and just glares. Bruce clears his throat. "I'm six months along now you know. Just barely but still there." Still no reaction from the man. "I wish…" Bruce trails off, belatedly thinking it's probably not a good idea to say that he wishes Clark was at home with him. One of Clark's eyebrows raises.

"What are you doing here?" Clark finally speaks.

Bruce hesitates, clears his throat again, then trudges on. "I need to ask you something and I need you to answer truthfully." Clark stays silent so Bruce takes that as permission to ask. "Do you still love me?" Clark's eyes immediately narrow but he doesn't say anything.

Bruce takes the passing silence that lasts a minute as his answer. He nods dejectedly. He's turning around to leave when Clark starts to speak. "But you still love me, don't you?"

Bruce looks to the floor, not answering. He doesn't want to satisfy Clark with saying yes. Clark takes the silence as a yes anyways and huffs an amused laugh. Bruce turns to him again. "Do you remember when I told you that I didn't know if I wanted anymore children?" Clark takes a while to nod but eventually he does briefly. "And you remember when we found out that I was pregnant how scared the two of us were?" Another nod. "Well after a while, after the shock went away, I grew to want this baby. I wanted a family with you Clark." His voice cracks as he tries to keep his emotions in check.

"Watch it Bruce," Clark sneers. "You're showing emotions."

Bruce ignores him and continues. "But now I've lost you. Do you know how much that hurts? I love you Clark and…" He takes a moment to compose himself. "And I truly wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, raising our child together, starting a family. But you crushed it." Bruce backs up a few paces. Clark didn't react to anything he said. "Goodbye Clark," he says quietly. He then turns and leaves.

He prides himself on not crying until he gets home.

...

Bruce is down in the cave after another sleepless night. It's been a month since he visited Clark and yet the pain of losing him is still there. Bruce never really believed all that nonsense about how when two mates that have bonded break up, the pain is unbearable and lasts for a long time, but now he can see that it's true. He's tinkering with something that he plans to use on the Bat suit once he starts going out again after the baby is born in a few months. He's just barely seven months along and even with his many sleepless nights the doctor says there is nothing wrong.

Of course, the doctor does advise him to get more sleep but somehow Bruce just can't seem to do it. He can no longer even enter his old bedroom that he used to share with Clark as Clark's scent is everywhere and when he tries to sleep in another room, it feels too empty and alone. Alfred has tried to clean his old bedroom to get rid of Clark's scent but Bruce can still smell it. Smelling that familiar scent only makes the pain of losing Clark worse and sometimes he just can't bear it anymore. He tries to hide his growing depression from Alfred and the doctor hasn't suspected anything yet, but he's sure Alfred knows and Bruce is afraid that Alfred will tell the doctor. He doesn't want to be forced to go to therapy or take medication after the baby is born so he starts to fake more smiles around Alfred and tries his best to act like his old self again. He's sure Alfred isn't convinced.

A painful kick makes him realize he was spacing out, snapping him out of his thoughts. He rubs the sore spot. "I know baby boy but Daddy just isn't feeling like doing anything." He gives his stomach a small smile. "Daddy is too sad right now but know I love you anyways, no matter how badly I feel. You'll make daddy happy when you arrive won't you baby boy?" There's another kick, softer and gentler this time. "Yeah, I know you want me to be happy right now but I… I can't seem to do it little one." He rubs the tears that formed on the edge of his eyes away. "I promise once you're born Daddy will make a better effort at being happy."

...

The next day, Bruce is down in the cave again, working on the same device. After his little confession to his baby, he went straight back upstairs and to the kitchen where Alfred was making supper. He plastered on his fake smile and greeted his father figure like he used to, many months ago. Alfred had only raised an eyebrow, frowned slightly, and went back to cooking. After that, Bruce stopped putting in the effort of pretending but Alfred didn't say anything to him.

He's just putting the finishing touches on the device when an alarm on the computer sounds. He looks up and the screen flickers to the disturbance. His breath catches in his throat when he sees what comes up. There, on the screen, is an empty cell… Clark's empty cell.

"Well would you look at that," Bruce startles and his eyes widen in fear. He spins around and there, floating in the middle of the cave, is Clark. "You have been watching me." Clark smirks and Bruce has just enough time to press a button on his keyboard to send an alert to Alfred to get out of the Manor before Clark flies up to him at super speed and backhands him in the jaw. Bruce goes flying through the air, spinning, and landing hard on the rock ground. Pain shoots through his jaw and he thinks he should probably count himself lucky that Clark didn't break it. "I told you Bruce," Clark says as he starts to approach him. He waggles his finger at Bruce. "I told you I would kill you when I get out."

"Clark-" Clark doesn't allow him to speak before Clark is picking him up and throwing him halfway across the room. Bruce lands heavily on his side.

He landed next to the computer so he grabs the side of the desk and hauls himself up. Clark speeds up behind him, though, and takes a hold of his hair, slamming his head against the desk. "You betrayed me!" Bruce's vision is blurring and he has to blink a few times to clear it. "How could you betray me like that?" Clark flips him onto his back and Bruce tries to punch him. Clark grabs a hold of his wrist before his fist even reaches him and twists his arm, not quite enough to break the bone but enough to be very painful. Bruce yells from the pain and starts to crawl away when Clark stands. He watches Bruce with an amused smile on his face.

"Clark let me explain," he says, using his shaky limbs to stand himself up.

"Explain?" Clark advances on him again. "Explain what Bruce? How you left me? How you left me to rot?"

Bruce reaches into a hidden compartment that is in the wall of the cave and pulls out some tiny explosives. He throws them at Clark and as they blow up, he makes a break for it. Clark, of course, isn't fazed and sees him through the fire and smoke. He speeds up to him and knocks him down onto his front. A sharp pain shoots up his stomach. Clark flips him onto his back again. "Clark stop-"

Clark punches him right in the temple. "Just for that Bruce, I think you've earned yourself a few broken ribs." Clark presses his thumb right on a rib bone and presses, successfully breaking it. He does this to two others and Bruce screams with each one. Clark leans down and gets in his face. "I told you, Bruce, that I didn't want to come back and see that you had done something _stupid_. I _told you_ that I would be angry. And what do you do?" Clark gets up and throws him again. Bruce groans from the pain. "You release the prisoners and send them to fight us. Then you lock us up! I thought you were more loyal than that, Bruce." Bruce is having a hard time breathing and wonders if one of his broken ribs punctured one of his lungs. His stomach also hurts and he's concerned about the baby.

Clark gets on top of him again. "Please Clark."

Clark shakes his head. "You just had to be stupid didn't you? And now I have to kill you." One of Clark's hands wrap around his neck and squeezes while the other reaches down to his stomach and presses. A sharp pain like he hasn't felt before shoots through his entire body.

"Clar…," Bruce tries, the words coming out strangled from the lack of oxygen. He's clawing at Clark's arm but, of course, it doesn't affect him. Bruce's feet are also scrambling against the rock ground, trying to get leverage to try and push himself up and away. Nothing works. "Clark the baby. Please… the ba… the baby."

Clark's eyes narrow and he gives him a menacing grin. "No Bruce, I'm going to kill you, baby or no baby." Clark squeezes tighter and all oxygen is cut off then. The edges of Bruce's vision are going black. Suddenly, something in Clark's eyes light up, as if he just thought of an idea. The hand on his stomach stops pressing and the one around his neck lets go. Bruce gulps in a breath of air and starts coughing. "No, not yet." Clark gets up and walks a few paces away, leaving Bruce a bloody, coughing mess. "I'll kill you later."

Bruce watches Clark leave, wheezing as he struggles to breath. He's shaking and as soon as Clark is gone, he grunts and turns over onto his stomach. He gets onto his hands and knees and crawls over to the computer, hauling himself up by the desk. Bruce can feel a wetness between his legs that is really concerning him. He places his injured armed hand on his stomach, feels the pain radiate through his body, and then uses his other hand to press a button on his keyboard. The portal comes to life.

Slowly, Bruce starts to work his way to it. He can feel his face starting to swell and blood coming from his mouth and the side of his head. "It's going to be okay baby. Daddy's going to protect you." He coughs and collapses to the floor, having to drag himself the rest of the way to the portal. Using his good hand, he forces himself to stand by grabbing the side of the portal. "Daddy's going to get help." Weakly, he steps through the portal.

On the other side, he emerges into a room with a round table. The Justice League members are sat around it but as soon as he appears, they all turn to him in shock. He collapses again right there and then, hearing quite a few chairs scrape against the floor. "Bruce!" Batman is beside him immediate followed by Superman.

Superman picks his head up and places it on his lap. "Batman what's going on?"

Batman sweeps his eyes over Bruce's body, trying to figure out what happened. Bruce tries to tell him but he can't find his voice. "I don't know," Batman says, sounding alarmed. He's looking at the spot between his legs. "But he's bleeding." Bruce gives out an agonized sound. He can't be bleeding down there. Please no! "Superman, med-bay now. J'onn, call Doctor Thompkins and be on standby to let her up. Superman, I'll meet you in the med-bay, put him on oxygen."

"Right." Superman lifts him up carefully and then there is a rush of wind. When Bruce looks around, he sees he is in the med-bay. Superman lays him down on one of the beds and then hooks him up to some oxygen. It doesn't take long for Batman to get to the room.

"Ah!" Bruce exclaims as the pain in his stomach gets worse.

"Superman scan him," Batman orders.

Superman does as he's told and his eyes widen with what he discovers. "Oh my gosh, he's in labor."

Batman immediately goes into action and begins to take Bruce's pants off. "The blood is alarming. Did you see anything wrong with the baby?"

"N-No, I-I don't think so," Superman takes the pants that are handed to him. "Um… Bruce?" Superman is talking to his Bruce. "How exactly does a birth work with… well, with a male?"

Batman pulls up stirrups and puts Bruce's feet on them. No one asks why the stirrups are even there. "It doesn't matter right now." Superman looks awfully pale. Batman pulls a blanket up to cover up his groin as best as possible. "Hold his hand."

"Me?" Superman looks pale _and_ incredulous now. "Why me?"

"Because you're the invulnerable one," Batman snaps.

"Okay," Superman comes to Bruce's side and grabs a hold of his hand, smiling down at him. "Bruce?" Superman turns to Batman. "Have you delivered a baby before?"

"Once," Batman takes his gloves off and then goes and washes his hands. He comes back over to stand between Bruce's legs when he's done. "On my travels I stayed with a pregnant woman. She had a home birth. Father wasn't in the picture and so she chose me to help." Batman shrugs. "This shouldn't be that much different."

"Except that it's coming from a male." Superman's eyes are wide and they don't get any smaller when Batman glares at him.

"Just shut up." Batman looks to Bruce and makes eye contact with him, starring. He then turns back to Superman. "Put an actual oxygen mask on him, he's still having a hard time breathing." Superman takes off the nasal cannul from Bruce and replaces it with an oxygen mask that goes over his nose and mouth. Batman is frowning down between his legs. "Superman, are you sure there's nothing wrong with the baby? He's still bleeding."

Superman nods. "Yes, I don't think there's anything wrong but I'm no expert on pregnancies."

Batman's frown deepens before he looks back to Bruce's eyes. "Bruce, when I tell you to I'm going to need you to push."

Bruce frantically shakes his head and squeezes Superman's hand hard as another pain goes through his body. He now knows that the pain is contractions on top of the pain he has from being beaten up. "No," he says, his voice sounding muffled because of the mask. "I can't have the baby yet, it's too early."

"Bruce, there's no stopping it," Batman says. "You're going to have to do it."

"It's too early." Another contraction goes through his body.

"It'll be fine," Batman reassures him. "How many weeks are you?"

Bruce lets the contraction wash over him and answers before another one arrives. "T-Twenty-five weeks."

There's a pause where Batman just stares at him and then he seems to blink, snapping himself out of whatever thoughts he was just thinking. "Okay… uh…" Superman looks over to Batman, surprised that Batman doesn't know what to say. Batman reverts his eyes to between Bruce's legs again. "Okay, that's… that's fine. It'll be fine."

"Batman?" Superman ventures but Batman ignores him in favor of watching whatever is going on between Bruce's legs. Bruce feels very wet down there.

"Superman, there's an incubator in the closet over there." Batman motions with his chin. "I need you to get it out. It's collapsible so you'll have to set it up."

"A… a collapsible incubator?" Superman goes to the cabinet and starts to pull the incubator out. "I didn't even know they made those."

"They don't," Batman says. "I made it."

"Why would you… you know what, never mind." Superman sets up the incubator and then goes back to Bruce to hold his hand again. "How much longer?"

"Not much longer." Batman looks up to Bruce. "Okay Bruce, get ready to push." When the next contraction comes, Batman prompts him to start pushing.

As he pushes, he can't breathe because his ribs feel like they are on fire. The contraction lessens and Bruce takes a huge gulp of air. "I can't. I can't do this."

"Yes you can," Superman encourages. "You're Batman. Batman can do anything."

"Not this… not this." He's still gasping for breath and he's now officially concerned about one of his lungs being punctured.

"Just a little bit more, I promise." Batman pats his thigh in comfort, something that surprises Bruce. It's not like Batman, like _them_ , to do such a thing. Another contraction comes and Batman tells him to push again. Bruce does and squeezes Superman's hand so tight that he's sure it would break a human's hand. Batman was right in choosing Superman to hold his hand.

The contraction doesn't stop this time and so when Bruce tries to rest, he can't. His whole body feels like it's being compressed or set on fire, maybe both. His bruises hurt, especially his ribs and stomach. Batman tells him to keep pushing, that he's almost there, but Bruce can't, he just can't. So he stops, squeezes his eyes against the pain, and wishes everything would just disappear. He ignores Superman trying to encourage him, he ignores Batman trying to urge him to continue pushing, and he ignores his body's signals to keep going. He doesn't want to keep going.

"Your baby is going to die." That sentence breaks through his mental shut down and he snaps his eyes open to look at Batman. "If you don't push and get this baby out, he is going to die."

They stare at each other for a few seconds before Bruce nods and then goes back to pushing. Batman is back to looking at him down there, getting ready to catch the baby and Superman has grown silent as he watches Batman work. In one last push, the pressure that his body was producing disappears. At least the pressure from the contractions. The pressure from his injuries are still there.

Batman is efficient in clamping off and cutting the umbilical cord then carrying the baby over to the incubator. He places him in it and starts to hook him up to a bunch of wires. "Is he going to die?" Bruce asks.

Superman answers him, forcing a reassuring smile at Bruce. "No, we're not going to let him die." Superman then let's go of Bruce's hand and walks around the bed to join Batman. "He's not going to die right?"

For a split second, Batman halts in hooking the baby up, then just as quickly, begins again. He answers Clark, whispering and probably hoping Bruce can't hear him but he can. "Twenty-five weeks is extremely early Clark." Bruce can see Superman frowning from his profile. "The standard age for most places in which a baby can survive out of the womb is twenty-four weeks but the survival rate is low at a thirty-nine percent chance." Superman looks to the ceiling in horrified disbelief and then to Bruce's baby. "At twenty-five weeks, I would maybe give it a… fifty-fifty chance."

Superman is shaking his head. "We can't let this baby die, Bruce."

Bruce halts again, sighs, and then continues with the last hook ups. "Let's just wait to see what Doctor Thompkins says. All I can do right now is hook the baby up to some monitors and oxygen." He steps away. "Superman, I want you to clean the baby up with a towel and then hook him up to an IV drip. He won't be able to feed orally until he's more developed. Then I want you to serve as a secondary monitoring system. Listen to his heart and x-ray him every two minutes and give me a report."

"Right." Superman goes over to another cabinet that the incubator wasn't in and grabs a towel. He then goes back over to the baby.

Batman washes his hands that were covered in blood and then walks over to Bruce to address him. "I'm going to hook you up to an IV as well and give you some morphine." Batman gets to work, pulling over the hook that the IV bag will be hung on and then getting an IV bag out. He works slower now, less urgent, and at one point he even pushes his cowl up slightly to wipe at his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. Bruce watches him.

"So far so good Batman," Superman says from where he has already gotten the baby hooked to an IV.

Batman doesn't say anything in response as he gets the morphine. "I'm going to give you the morphine now. It'll probably make you sleepy." He injects it into the IV then walks to Bruce's legs, peering between them. His lips thin. "I should have had someone here for the afterbirth."

"After birth?" Superman asks, not turning around to face them due to dutifully keeping his eyes on the baby.

"The expulsion of the placenta." Batman cleans it up quickly, not looking bothered at all and Bruce wonders if that's just his stoicism or if he really isn't bothered by having to clean up a placenta off the bed. Bruce isn't really sure what he would feel if he had to. Once again, Batman peers between his legs and then gently takes his feet off the stirrups. "It looks like the bleeding has stopped. Since we can't seem to figure out the cause for the bleeding, I'm going to assume it's because of the preterm labor. I don't know if it had any damaging impacts on the baby though."

Bruce swallows. His throat hurts and Bruce suspects that's due to Clark choking him. "Clark, he-"

Batman cuts him off by raising his hand. "Tell us later after you've rested."

"Guys," The Flash pops his head into the doorway, gives Bruce and the baby a once over, and then speaks to Batman and Superman. "J'onn told me to tell you that Doctor Thompkins will be here soon. She was busy with an emergency and so couldn't come right away."

"Thanks Flash." Superman gives Flash a smile and then turns back to the baby. He gives Bruce an update by telling him that the baby is still doing fine. The Flash then leaves.

Bruce comes back to his side and places a hand on his forehead, brushing his bangs with his fingers. "Rest." He keeps his hand there, thumb stroking lightly. Bruce blinks up at him tiredly, hoping this one silent exchange of looks conveys to Batman his thanks. Batman's lips twitch up at the corner and he nods minutely, telling Bruce that he understands.

Bruce closes his eyes; the pain his body is in going away to a numbness that he greets with open arms. He focusses on Superman's voice informing Batman of his baby's status and Batman's warm hand on his forehead.

...

Bruce wakes up to the sound of movement and when he opens his eyes, there's an older woman in the room. She's sitting in a chair, writing on a piece of paper that is attached to a clipboard. Every once in a while the woman glances over at his baby and then jots some more things down. He wonders if she is keeping track of the baby's vitals and writing those down.

Her eyes finally drift to Bruce and they widen with surprise that he's awake. She stands. "You're awake. I thought you would be out longer." She sets the clipboard down and walks over to him, peering at his own vitals. "I'm Doctor Thompkins."

Bruce reaches up and pulls the oxygen mask off. It's still a bit difficult to breathe but it's still much better than earlier. "I know, I recognized you. You look just like our Doctor Thompkins."

Doctor Thompkins nods thoughtfully. "How are you feeling?" She picks up another clipboard that was attached to his bed.

"Like I got beat up by a Kryptonian and then just gave birth." She laughs, a sound Bruce hadn't heard from his dimension's Doctor Thompkins in a while.

"Well, you're a bit more open than our Bruce aren't you?" She looks amused and then starts writing his vitals down.

Bruce looks to the ceiling. Doctor Thompkins is blocking his view of the baby. "Different circumstances. Plus, I had a lot of hormones to contend with. It's a lot harder to fight off the emotional responses while pregnant than I thought it would be." She chuckles again. "The baby? How is he?"

Doctor Thompkins smiles down at him. "He's hanging in there. He's a fighter just like his father."

"Both his fathers," Bruce corrects.

Doctor Thompkins' smile wanes slightly. She no doubt knows about the situation with his own Clark. "Yes, like both his fathers." She then manually checks his vitals and once done, puts the oxygen mask back on him. "Keep this on for a little while longer."

"Were any of my ribs punctured?" he asks through the mask.

She shakes her head. "Close but no. Just a few centimeters more and you would have been in a lot more critical condition than you are now."

"It felt like one of them was punctured." It must have just been that the pain of what was going on was intensifying the pain in his ribs. He turns his head away and is shocked to see Batman in a chair, his head slumped and sleeping. "He's still here."

The door to the med-bay opens and in walks Superman, holding two cups of coffee. "He refused to go to his quarters to get some rest until he knew you were okay." Superman sits in a chair next to Batman after handing one of the coffees to Doctor Thompkins. Superman sets the other one aside and Bruce assumes that it was going to be for Bruce. "He was awake when I left."

Doctor Thompkins snorts and goes back to monitoring his baby. "The boy never gets proper rest." Superman hums in agreement.

Bruce turns his head again to look at his baby from where he is in the bed. They cleaned him up better than he was earlier and put a diaper on him. He's also got a couple of solar lamps pointed at him so he can absorb some of the radiation. Batman, Superman, and Doctor Thompkins probably thinks that will help keep the baby alive due to him being half Kryptonian.

He was foolish to believe that the baby would fix things between him and Clark. A mournful, sharp pain travels through his chest and he has to look away from the baby. Bruce doesn't miss Superman's frown. "Are you alright?"

Before he can say anything, Batman jolts awake. He looks around the room and sees that Bruce is awake as well. "It's good to see you awake." Superman hands Batman the coffee and Batman takes it gratefully. "Are you alright?"

If Bruce wasn't feeling so sad right now, he would have smiled at the fact that Batman just asked him the same question Superman just asked. He avoids eye contact with everyone in the room, instead looking up at the ceiling. "Fine," he lies. Bruce knows that Batman knows it's a lie, Superman probably does too, and he wouldn't put it past Doctor Thompkins to know as well. None of them say anything to this fact.

"I'll give you some more morphine. I'm sure what you got earlier is starting wear off." She starts getting to work.

Batman stands and approaches him. He reaches over and brushes his bangs off his forehead, kind of like earlier when he had placed his hand there. "How are you really feeling?" Bruce doesn't answer him and they stay in silence for a long time. Eventually, Batman quietly sighs and gives up. He glances over to the baby before looking back to Bruce. "Do you know what you're going to name him?" Superman joins Batman, standing by his side and looking eager to know.

Bruce shakes his head. "We never decided on a boy name." He frowns. "If the baby was a girl though, we were going to name her Martha Lara Kent-Wayne." Batman brushes his bangs again and Bruce finally understands that it's Batman's subtle way of comforting him. He lets the fact that this Bruce, a Bruce that is much more closed off than he is, actually wants to comfort him; even if it is in his own way, warm his chest with gratitude. "It was in honor of both our mothers."

"Then why don't you name him Thomas?" Superman asks.

"Or Jonathan?" Batman inputs.

A sad smile breaks out on Bruce's face without him being able to stop it. He starts to laugh uncontrollably. "I can't… We talked about those names already and…" His laugh quickly turns to sobs, tears rolling down his cheeks. It would seem that some hormones are still effecting his ability to control his emotions. "And we decided not to." He's really crying and Superman is looking lost at what to do, Batman has stiffened, obviously not knowing what to do as he is awkward when it comes to emotions; and Doctor Thompkins doesn't do anything, allowing the two superheroes to deal with it. "We…" Bruce is starting to hiccup. "We… oh, God." Bruce reaches up and knocks the oxygen mask off as he covers his face with his hands. He can't believe he's lost so much control.

 _We decided that we shouldn't use either of those names because we didn't want to leave one out over the other. But using them together sounded stupid and then we talked about how our baby would hate us if we gave him the middle name of Jor, and laughed and was happy for once after so long… and… and…_

The bed slumps as someone sits down on it and he's lifted into a hug. "Shh." Someone runs their fingers through his hair and someone else is rubbing his back as the other side of the bed dips. When Bruce lowers his hands, he is surprised to see that it was Batman who pulled him into a hug and is the one running his hand through his hair, gloves off. Superman is on the other side of the bed and being the one that is rubbing at his back. Bruce wraps is arms around Batman and holds onto him, reluctantly allowing for his emotions to take control for just a minute. He buries his face into Batman's armor clad shoulder and the hand in his hair and on his back don't stop stroking.

But eventually Bruce does have to get a hold of himself, has to stop looking so damn weak. When he finally stops crying, he expects Batman to let go of him but he doesn't. He continues to hold onto Bruce, continues to stroke his hair. Bruce can feel the awkwardness radiating off the man despite Batman's willingness to hold him so Bruce takes the initiative to push away. "I… I didn't mean to start crying. I think I'm still being effected by some hormones." The two superheroes just look at him, sympathy coming from Superman and a frown coming from Batman. "I… I think I just want to get more rest."

Superman and Batman both nod at the same time and get up off the bed. Bruce lies back down and painfully turns over to his side, facing the baby. Superman and Batman head to the door of the med-bay. "We'll come back to check on you later," Superman says and Bruce doesn't say anything. He just continues to stare at his baby. The door opens and the two leave. When the door shuts, Bruce closes his eyes and tries to go back to sleep.

...

It's a few days before Bruce is allowed to get up out of the bed to get closer to his baby. Batman and Superman have been visiting him daily. They don't stay long but Bruce appreciates it nonetheless. He still hasn't decided on a name but he has had plenty of time to think about more important things. Like time to realize that Clark must have gotten his powers back because of the sun. They should have put him under some red sun lamps it seems. The time also gave him the opportunity to think about the fact that Clark had told him _not yet_ and that he would _kill him later_. The days lying in a hospital bed and then just sitting in a chair in front of the incubator, watching his son sleeping with a bunch of wires on him, gave him plenty of time to work out just exactly what Clark meant by those words. The conclusion chills him to the bone and Bruce decides he has to make an important decision and it'll have to be soon.

Five weeks after he had given birth, Batman and Superman walk into the room like they have been every day, and Bruce says before they can say anything, "I've decided on a name." He's sitting in his chair in front of the incubator but the baby isn't in it. He's been allowed to hold him now since about two weeks ago. He's still hooked up to all these wires but the oxygen is gone as the baby is now breathing on his own.

Superman and Batman walk up to him. "What is it?" Superman asks.

Bruce smiles down at his baby. "Clark, I'm going to name him Clark."

"Clark?" Batman asks. "Why?"

His baby yawns and Bruce's smile grows larger yet sadder. "In honor of who my Clark used to be." Bruce strokes the baby's cheek with his index finger and he turns his head blindly in that direction. "Before he became who is now."

"That's…" Superman starts but doesn't finish. Batman doesn't say anything.

"I know you think I'm crazy, for naming him that, but… I still love Clark you know." Bruce finally looks up at the two. "I can't stop loving him no matter what he does. But this baby, this baby that we made together, will grow up to be better than either of his parents." Bruce stands, kisses the top of baby Clark's head, and then places him back into the incubator. "I know he will." He goes back to the hospital bed and gets under the covers. "Trust me." Bruce turns so his back is to them, hoping that they get the hint that he wants to sleep. In reality, he wants to be left alone so he can plan. Batman and Superman leave and Bruce sits up in the bed. He looks over at baby Clark who is still sleeping. "Don't worry baby boy, I told you I'd protect you and I'm going to keep that promise."

...

It's another five weeks before Doctor Thompkins tells Bruce, Batman, and Superman that baby Clark is healthy enough to stay out of the incubator and go home with Bruce. The three of them travel to Batman's cave where he had been busy building another dimensional portal. Bruce makes Batman promise to destroy it after and then makes Superman promise him that he makes sure Batman destroys it. They both agree.

Bruce looks down at baby Clark and kisses his head as Superman and Batman work on starting the portal up. "I love you," he whispers. "I'll always love you little one." He then walks up to Superman. "Superman, can you just hold him for a minute."

"Yeah sure," Superman takes baby Clark into his arms, cooing down at him. Both Batman and Superman have grown attached to him Bruce thinks. The portal whizzes to life and Bruce approaches it, hoping to get through before any of them stop him. He's too slow, however. "Bruce wait." Bruce stops, closes his eyes, sighs, and then turns around. "You're forgetting your baby," Superman says. When Bruce looks to Batman, who has his cowl down, Batman avoids eye contact with him. He's already figured out Bruce's plan then.

"No I'm not," he says. "I'm leaving him here."

"What!" Superman exclaims. "What do you mean you're leaving him here?" Superman turns to Batman. "Did you know about this?"

"I suspected." Batman continues to avoid eye contact.

Superman turns back to him. "You can't just leave him. You're his father."

Bruce nods and it's a big effort to keep looking at Superman and his shocked and hurt face. "I can't bring him back, Superman."

"Why not?" Superman asks.

Bruce smiles sadly. "Clark, my Clark, will try to get him, probably killing me in the process. Clark was going to kill me when I was still pregnant, killing the baby too. That's what made me go into labor. But then he stopped. He told me 'Not yet' and that he would 'Kill me later'. He wants to raise our baby as his own, under his own rules. He wants to make our baby a killing machine." Bruce looks at Superman desperately. "I can't let him do that but I can't… I can't keep our baby safe from him in my universe. If I leave him here, destroying both our portals, then I know he'll be safe from Clark."

"Then stay here too," Superman says.

Bruce shakes his head. "I can't abandon my world Superman, the rest of my family. God knows what happened to them already."

"Plus, we can't very well have two Bruce's in this universe," Batman says, finally looking at Bruce.

"But how can you abandon him if you can't abandon your own world?" Superman looks incredulous.

"Because like I said, I know he'll be safe here. That's how I can do this." Bruce takes a small step further, looking at the baby in Superman's arms. He reaches out and places a hand on his baby's head, stroking the soft hair there. "Promise me, that he'll get a good home. It'll probably have to be with a hero family as I don't know if he'll grow up presenting as an alpha, beta, or omega. It's a possibility that he won't present as anything as he is half Kryptonian, but it's not guaranteed. I left some notes on the Watchtower about how to deal with it if he presents as an alpha or omega and goes through ruts or heats. You won't know until he hits puberty though."

"We promise to place him in a good home." When Bruce looks to Batman, there's something in his eyes, a kind of determination in them. He wonders if…

"You can't do this," Superman says desperately.

Bruce shakes his head sadly. "Superman I have to, please don't make this harder than it already is."

Superman frowns and looks like he wants to argue but he doesn't. Instead he says dejectedly, "Okay," Superman's eyes are sad but pleading. "Let me at least take a picture of you holding him and then print it out. One for you and one for him. That way you can always look at it and see him and he can look at it and know who his father is."

Bruce hesitates but eventually agrees. Superman hands baby Clark over and Batman hands Superman his cellphone. Superman takes the photo and quickly prints one out using the Bat-computer. When he hands it to Bruce, Bruce looks at it fondly; sad, loving smile forming on his face. He sticks the photo in his back pocket, kisses baby Clark one last time, before handing him back over to Clark. He then walks over to the portal, looking back only once.

He looks at Batman who nods at him in reassurance and Bruce knows that his baby will get a good home and be taken care of. He then looks over to Superman and his breath catches in his throat. It's the image he had dreamed of ever since he had gotten pregnant. Clark, standing there and smiling at him, holding their baby in his arms lovingly. Bruce smiles at Superman and memorizes that scene. For a minute, he pretends that it really is his Clark holding their baby.

Bruce nods at the two men then turns away, finally walking through the portal and back home.

 **A/N: IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!: If you're wondering why Bruce would stay with Clark through all that abuse, just try to remember that this is the Justice Lords Batman. That Batman is a Batman that walked into the room after Superman had killed Lex and just said, "It had to be done." That Batman stayed with the Justice Lords team even after what happened with Lex and what they were doing to the world. It took** _ **another dimension's Batman**_ **to convince him of how wrong it really was. With all that in mind, I don't find it too farfetched that he would stay with an abusive Superman. Plus, in this, you have the extra bonus of him being pregnant with Superman's child. It wouldn't be the first time (in real life) in which a person stayed with their abusive significant other because of the baby.**

 **I do believe — though I left the ending kind of ambiguous — that Bruce adopted the baby (you know how he likes to do that) and Clark offered to help raise him and so that's what kick started their relationship together. That's pretty much why this line is in here: "He wonders if…" :)**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this. It was a lot of fun to write and I hope to write more A/B/O stories in this fandom sometime in the future. Funny thing is, so far this is the** _ **only**_ **fandom I like A/B/O stories in. I like mpreg in other fandoms just not the A/B/O dynamic. It's weird, I know.**

 **And yes, I do know morning sickness can run through the whole pregnancy sometimes.**

 **A lot of research on premature babies went into this.**

 **Thanks for reading. :)**

 **!ADDED INFO!: The sequel is now posted! It's called _Lost in You_.**


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